RANT:Why are the radio stations giving preference to B's instead of C's

[D.o.s.]

Here is the thing: Boston sports media is toxic.  Celticsblog, Grantland, Sons of Sam Horn (well I used to go there anyway, maybe it's bad now), and a small handful other internet things are the only outlets I have that aren't totally negative cesspools of misery like WEEI is.  If  you moved to a different city, do you think you'd go on their website and listen to their podcasts or anything?  Of course not, it's depressing and terrible.  Dan Shaughnessy is human misery incarnate.  If we had a different media, we'd probably win even more championships as a city since we would have less mental breakdowns from our new players.  It's why I love Tommy more than I should - he's one of the few positive people to a fault in the Boston sports media.  Don't even get me started on the Herald

Boston sports media has always been a toxic cesspool -- the 'Woe is us' New England sports fan definitely predates the "title town' fan, after all.

[kozlodoev]

The Sports Hub was essentially created because WEEI only talked about the Red Sox and Patriots and didn't care about the Bruins. The Celtics need a similar movement from someone in the media. Until then, the Celtics will always get the short end of the stick when it comes to radio talk, even when they are good. It sucks, but I've slowly accepted it.

The Sports Hub didn't even carry the Celtics until this season.

Okay..? I'm not sure what your point is. Earlier in the thread someone referenced that WEEI never talks about the Bruins but the Sports Hub always does. I just gave the reason. The Sports Hub really exists because some media members were sick of the lack of Bruins' coverage.

The Red Sox aren't officially carried by the Sports Hub, but that doesn't stop them from talking about them all the time. The Sports Hub covers the Pats, Bruins, and Sox well. They are a step up from WEEI who really only care about the Pats and the Sox. Now we need a station that goes for the C's.

EDIT: Hate to say it but I have to agree with the above poster, especially for the Celtics. There is absolutely no reason we should not be in the discussion with Chicago, NY, and LA whenever big FAs reach the market. We have won 17 championships, and the lack of local media hype up really does this franchise a disservice at times. You'd think NY has won 10+ championships or something based on how their media hypes that franchise up. "The Mecca" lol. Give me a break. It works, though. The national media hype machine works wonders for them because of their local media. They are in every discussion for any FA, but fortunately for us, their FO typically sucks and they rarely follow through.

I don't think SH _always_ talk about the Celtics... and when they do, it sounds like don't know the first thing about the NBA. But maybe that's just me.

SportsHub started with the Bruins and the Patriots, so I find it hard to believe it was created for Celtics talk.

[DarkAzcura]

The Sports Hub was essentially created because WEEI only talked about the Red Sox and Patriots and didn't care about the Bruins. The Celtics need a similar movement from someone in the media. Until then, the Celtics will always get the short end of the stick when it comes to radio talk, even when they are good. It sucks, but I've slowly accepted it.

The Sports Hub didn't even carry the Celtics until this season.

Okay..? I'm not sure what your point is. Earlier in the thread someone referenced that WEEI never talks about the Bruins but the Sports Hub always does. I just gave the reason. The Sports Hub really exists because some media members were sick of the lack of Bruins' coverage.

The Red Sox aren't officially carried by the Sports Hub, but that doesn't stop them from talking about them all the time. The Sports Hub covers the Pats, Bruins, and Sox well. They are a step up from WEEI who really only care about the Pats and the Sox. Now we need a station that goes for the C's.

EDIT: Hate to say it but I have to agree with the above poster, especially for the Celtics. There is absolutely no reason we should not be in the discussion with Chicago, NY, and LA whenever big FAs reach the market. We have won 17 championships, and the lack of local media hype up really does this franchise a disservice at times. You'd think NY has won 10+ championships or something based on how their media hypes that franchise up. "The Mecca" lol. Give me a break. It works, though. The national media hype machine works wonders for them because of their local media. They are in every discussion for any FA, but fortunately for us, their FO typically sucks and they rarely follow through.

I don't think SH _always_ talk about the Celtics... and when they do, it sounds like don't know the first thing about the NBA. But maybe that's just me.

SportsHub started with the Bruins and the Patriots, so I find it hard to believe it was created for Celtics talk.

Wait what? You've completely misread my posts. I said the Sports Hub was created to talk about the Bruins. We need a similar movement for the Celtics in the media if we want similar representation in the sports talk world. I never said the Sports Hub talks about the Celtics. They are terrible when it comes to the Celtics. I'm not sure how you thought I was saying the Sports Hub was created for the Celtics, haha. I wrote two posts ranting about how no one talks about the Celtics.

[kozlodoev]

Wait what? You've completely misread my posts. I said the Sports Hub was created to talk about the Bruins. We need a similar movement for the Celtics in the media if we want similar representation in the sports talk world. I never said the Sports Hub talks about the Celtics. They are terrible when it comes to the Celtics. I'm not sure how you thought I was saying the Sports Hub was created for the Celtics, haha. I wrote two posts ranting about how no one talks about the Celtics.

Oh whoops, I misread that. It's getting late, time to pack up and head home.

[jpotter33]

It's because of all the black people. 

I know this is tongue in cheek, but to some extent I think this is an element at play.

There's a lot of coded language that gets used by hockey folks (e.g. Felger) talking in favor of hockey and deriding the NBA and its players.


Hockey players are "hard workers" with "good character" and "just play the right way" etc etc.
NBA players are "entitled," "primadonnas," "divas," "thugs" etc.

This despite the fact that a lot of players in the NHL actually act like thugs on the ice and serve no purpose for their teams other than to start fights with the opposing team. 

Not to mention that to speak generally of NBA players, many of whom have worked extremely hard to rise out of destitution to become professional athletes, as lazy or entitled, is ludicrous.

So True...but some people refuse to acknowledge it.

I honestly think either subconscious or overt racism has a lot to do with the crowd that "loves hockey and hates basketball". And I'm a white person who prefers basketball so I don't think I'm imagining prejudices.

I could understand if people just aren't into basketball. But there's plenty of media and fans who seem to loathe it.

To counter my own argument, maybe hockey just has a Napoleon complex from being the 4th sport. But like a previous poster mentioned, many fans/media frequently use code words like "thugs" and "divas". That basically is racism.

Thug: a violent person, especially a criminal.

Diva: a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty.

Semantically, these words have nothing to do with race, so how is it basically racism to use these words?  Are you saying that since some people use those words in a racist fashion that every use of that word is in a racist fashion?

If so, there's a little bit of a paradox there arguing against generalizing logic, i.e. racism, by employing generalizing logic. 

[bleedGREENdon]

I listen to WEEI every day while I work "post office mailman", I stopped listening because they rather discuss the 4th line of the Bruins and Tyler Seguin who was traded a year ago instead of the Celtics who are looking like they could be making a lot of moves tommorow. It's a joke.

[guava_wrench]

Sports radio hosts tend to be old white men, who gravitate towards baseball and hockey more than basketball.

There was an article with the same conclusion about how the Warriors don't get talked about much in the bay area even though they are a title contender this year.

This. Audience demographics will also matter. Who listens to radio any more anyway?

Not a problem in NY though. When WFAN was part of my daily routine, they always had good basketball coverage. Not as good at Mets coverage, since they were built around Mets coverage. Of course, now they carry the Yankees so I never listen to them anymore when I am in NYC.

[D.o.s.]

It's because of all the black people. 

I know this is tongue in cheek, but to some extent I think this is an element at play.

There's a lot of coded language that gets used by hockey folks (e.g. Felger) talking in favor of hockey and deriding the NBA and its players.


Hockey players are "hard workers" with "good character" and "just play the right way" etc etc.
NBA players are "entitled," "primadonnas," "divas," "thugs" etc.

This despite the fact that a lot of players in the NHL actually act like thugs on the ice and serve no purpose for their teams other than to start fights with the opposing team. 

Not to mention that to speak generally of NBA players, many of whom have worked extremely hard to rise out of destitution to become professional athletes, as lazy or entitled, is ludicrous.

So True...but some people refuse to acknowledge it.

I honestly think either subconscious or overt racism has a lot to do with the crowd that "loves hockey and hates basketball". And I'm a white person who prefers basketball so I don't think I'm imagining prejudices.

I could understand if people just aren't into basketball. But there's plenty of media and fans who seem to loathe it.

To counter my own argument, maybe hockey just has a Napoleon complex from being the 4th sport. But like a previous poster mentioned, many fans/media frequently use code words like "thugs" and "divas". That basically is racism.

Thug: a violent person, especially a criminal.

Diva: a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty.

Semantically, these words have nothing to do with race, so how is it basically racism to use these words?  Are you saying that since some people use those words in a racist fashion that every use of that word is in a racist fashion?

If so, there's a little bit of a paradox there arguing against generalizing logic, i.e. racism, by employing generalizing logic. 

Googling "NHL Thug" gives you 'About 437,000 results'
Googling "MLB Thug" gives you 'About 476,000 results'
Googling "NFL Thug" gives you 'About 1,130,000 results'

and Googling "NBA Thug" gives you 'About 1,790,000 results'


You can hear Charles P. Pierce, Cedric Maxwell, and Jackie Mac (among others) and others talk about the race problems in the NBA at the 22 minute marker of this HBO doc on Larry and Magic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axbIoHqFaa8

As they put it so elegantly in the video, why was Larry Bird anointed 'the great white hope?' These aren't a series of unconnected events -- there's a fairly evident greater truth that you can grasp from this.

What you're engaging in right now is referred to as 'Nelsonian knowledge.'

[kozlodoev]

Googling "NHL Thug" gives you 'About 437,000 results'
Googling "MLB Thug" gives you 'About 476,000 results'
Googling "NFL Thug" gives you 'About 1,130,000 results'

and Googling "NBA Thug" gives you 'About 1,790,000 results'

Great, you're comparing a sport where fighting is officially condoned, and a non-contact sport with football and basketball. Makes perfect sense.

Marathon thug, by the way, returns ~500,000 results. I'm guessing people are not so racist towards Ethiopian runners, for some reason...

[D.o.s.]

You know as well as I do that those are simply the Big Four Sports that get coverage from the Boston Sports Media. 

For my money, soccer/football has the largest number of racist fans and activity in the modern era, but that's got something to do with the massive sample size. If there was a way to measure it per capita (as it were), though, I still think it would come out on top.

[gift]

white thug - 33,100,000
black thug - 34,200,000
nice thug - 11,000,000
benevolent thug - 308,000
criminal thug - 1,070,000
dangerous thug - 932,000
celtics thug - 335,000
not a thug - 41,000,000

I don't know what this means, but it's kind of a fun game.

[Redz]

The Bruins basically got crickets on the air for years and years.  The Sports Hubb definitely used being hockey friendly as a selling point of difference in their early stages.  This coincided with the Bruins return to relevance.  Call the racial card if you want,  but redo is ask about ratings and the Bruins have been a bite compelling than the Celtics for a few years now. 

[kozlodoev]

celtics thug - 335,000

I know exactly what THIS means, though. 

[fairweatherfan]

Googling "NHL Thug" gives you 'About 437,000 results'
Googling "MLB Thug" gives you 'About 476,000 results'
Googling "NFL Thug" gives you 'About 1,130,000 results'

and Googling "NBA Thug" gives you 'About 1,790,000 results'

That's actually an improvement, I did the same thing for a thread I made a couple years ago and the NBA/NFL ratio was something like 11 to 1.  NFL's catching up I guess.

The problem with thug as a descriptor is some people do use it as a coded racial term, but some genuinely don't.  It's not something you can say is universally linked to the term though it frequently is.  And of course, a lot of people who do entangle the use of "thug" with race don't realize they're doing it, outside of the unconscious level that makes them become really defensive about the idea that anyone would.


EDIT: Just Googled NBA thug and got 2,250,000 results.  Wonder what I did differently.

[D.o.s.]

edit: you might have a faster internet connection than I do?

Googling "NHL Thug" gives you 'About 437,000 results'
Googling "MLB Thug" gives you 'About 476,000 results'
Googling "NFL Thug" gives you 'About 1,130,000 results'

and Googling "NBA Thug" gives you 'About 1,790,000 results'

That's actually an improvement, I did the same thing for a thread I made a couple years ago and the NBA/NFL ratio was something like 11 to 1.  NFL's catching up I guess.

You could call it the Richard Sherman effect.